Second Bongo Baby of the Year

The Zoo welcomes another baby bongo! The male calf was born April 18 at 1:44 am to mom, Juni and dad, Bob. This is the ninth offspring for Juni and eighth for Bob. Keeping in the Zoo’s bongo-naming tradition, the calf is named after the first initial of its mom’s name. Africa Keepers picked five “J” names: Jarvis, Jax, Jay, Jimmy and Junior and then Zoo staff and volunteers voted on the calf’s official name: Jax.

This brings the Zoo’s bongo herd to 8: adults Juni, Bob and Betty, the three born last year Charlie, Johnny and Boomer, Blip, born April 1 and now Jax. The new calf is strong, weighing in at a little over 49 pounds when he was born. To ensure the health and wellbeing of both mom and calf, Keeper staff organized several overnight watches to keep a close eye on the pair and make sure the calf was receiving adequate nutrition. Thanks to our dedicated Animal Care and Veterinary Team, both appear to be doing great, and Jax continues to nurse and grow. He’s already met his cousins and has explored his outside exhibit with mom.

Dr. Colleen Clabbers, the Zoo’s Veterinarian, performed a neonatal exam on the calf, in which everything checked out great. You can see the full exam and Jax exploring his exhibit.

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